Cork woman suspected of accessing thousands of accounts in fraud investigation
Concerns have been raised about staff working from home who can access confidential data — and security sources say there is a particular risk that friends or family of those workers could have ready access to such information. Stock picture: Joe Giddens/PA
Gardaí are preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to a young Cork woman suspected of unlawfully accessing thousands of customer payment accounts while working for Electric Ireland.
The woman is suspected of supplying credit card details to her boyfriend, who was associated with a transnational criminal gang specialising in fraud.
The woman, aged in her 20s, was working for a company contracted by the public utility.
Gardaí have identified a significant number of people who have been victims of fraud, but are still trying to establish the extent of it.
Sources said the case highlights the increased risk of fraud resulting from people working from home.
These workers can access confidential information of customers — both financial and personal — without the normal protections and supervision in an office.
In many cases, the worker is not actually carrying out the fraud, sources say.
Rather, it is people they are living with or their relatives, who can record the information onscreen, without anyone knowing.
It is understood that gardaí have arrested 10 people in different industries — from banking to social media companies and phone repair shops — suspected of being engaged in similar fraud.
They are also targeting people working in accountancy firms.
Last year, Electric Ireland said it had notified about 8,000 customers whose accounts may have been compromised and said it was working with gardaí.
The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB) conducted an investigation focusing on the woman’s boyfriend and his associates.
It is understood the boyfriend, a Nigerian national, has been charged.
When the bureau checked the boyfriend’s phone, they uncovered evidence as to how he managed to gain access to the information.
The investigation was handed over to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), which focused on his girlfriend and the victims of the fraud.
A Garda Press Office statement said a woman, aged in her 20s, was arrested on Monday as part of an investigation into a “potential data breach at a national utility service provider”.
It said the potential breach “was identified in 2023 by gardaí” attached to the GNCCB, which referred the matter to the GNECB.
The woman was released from custody on Monday night and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It is believed there may have been two people in the woman’s home office at the time the unauthorised access to customer accounts took place, one of them being her boyfriend.
Gardaí suspect this enabled them to record what was on the screen and take photographs on their phones.
The credit card information was then used to commit fraud using the dark web across the world.
